


It's Good to Be Back

by Ashley_vh



Series: Baby Steps [1]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Kinda, Teasing, Tucker Sarge and Simmons are only mentioned, carwash siblings, post season 12
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-24
Updated: 2015-10-24
Packaged: 2018-04-27 20:29:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5062987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashley_vh/pseuds/Ashley_vh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Agents Carolina and Washington watch the combined armies of Chorus.</p>
<p>-or-</p>
<p>The start of rebuilding a friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Good to Be Back

The cave air was sticky.  It was wet and kind of cold.  The stink of too many soldiers cramped into a small space right after a bittersweet victory high was intense.  It was a little too dark for midday.  They were still bruised, their bones still cracked.

And it was the best feeling ever.  Of all time.

Unfortunately, after having been so recently beaten to dust, walking long distances had turned out to be… a little more tiring (and painful) than he originally thought.  With at least 4 cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a concussion, and more cuts and bruises than seemed physically possible under full body armor, he convinced a begrudging Dr. Grey to release him that morning after she was sure his brain wasn’t bleeding. 

Doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt like a bitch. 

Grey had kept his armor, to keep him away from returning to training until at least five days passed without him showing signs of brain damage or death, to take it easy.  Tucker had been told to stay in his room after he refused to stay in Grey’s hospital room because there were so many soldiers who needed her help.

And though Dr. Grey scared Wash a bit too much to make him want to risk going against her orders, Tucker had barely lasted two hours on bed rest.

He took the healing unit the doctor had sat on his bedside table and slowly made his way to the training area in the center of the cave, tossing it up in the air with one hand and catching it with the other in a steady rhythm.  He sat on a low weapons crate and helped train the troops who didn’t die in the battle.

Wash was watching them run laps around the base, practice their aim, all preparing for the war against enemies who were much better prepared than they were. 

There wasn’t even much complaining about training so soon after “winning” their civil war.  Now that they knew years of their lives,  _all_  of their lives for a lot of them, were wasted, their friends killed for nothing, they were angry.  They wanted to be prepared to win.

“Don’t think so hard, Wash.  You might hurt something.”  

Carolina was closer than he expected her to be, moving silently through open doors to appear at his shoulder.  He started a little and ignoring her scoff.  “Thank you, Carolina, I can really feel the concern.”   He gestured to the space beside him, inviting her to watch the soldiers while partly expecting her to continue on her way.

Instead, she moved beside him, their shoulders almost touching when she reached up to unclasp her helmet and run her hand through her hair, shaking it out.  “You’re in a good mood.”  She said, her voice warmer without the helmet.

He couldn’t help the little smile that tugged at the corner of his split lip, “It’s been a good day.”

They stood in silence for a few moments, watching the soldiers run back and forth and trade blows in sparring matches all across the dirt in front of them.

He watched as Sarge, followed closely by Simmons, walked to Tucker, making him pause in tossing the small healing unit in the air and listen to whatever they were saying. 

“They’ve come a long way.”  Carolina said quietly, her tone warm and calm, almost happy.  Almost like she was before everything fell apart all those years ago—

He smiled, “They have.”  Below them, Tucker pointed towards the vehicle storage and a small group of soldiers left with Sarge and Simmons.  Wash nudged Carolina with his elbow, pointing to Tucker with a small gesture, “I trained him, ya know.”  Carolina looked at him with the barest hint of a smile.  “In the canyon after you left.”

“I think your training lacked a little something.”  She said, the teasing tone still in her voice, “He got stabbed in the stomach.  He almost died.”

“But he didn’t die.”  Wash said, turning back to watch the soldiers, “I’m still counting that a win for me.”

Epsilon flickered onto the railing between them before Carolina could say anything.  “Well then, I guess it’s true what they say.”  He said, clearly hoping Wash would take the bait.

He sighed and let curiosity get the better of him.  “What?” he asked with a flat voice. 

He could almost see the smile that was in the AI’s tone when he said, “If you can’t do, teach.”

“Hey, I didn’t die either!”  He said, glaring half-heartedly at Carolina when she chuckled.

“And you did very good.” Epsilon said.                          

“Don’t patronize me.” Wash was completely sure that, if he could, the AI would have patted him on the head like he was a child.  

“Besides, Wash.”  Carolina said, “How many cracked ribs do you have?  Or do you not remember how to count after the concussion?”

He huffed.  It was like before Tex showed up in Project Freelancer… all good-natured teasing that he didn’t realize he missed as much as he did.  “Well, at least  _I_ didn’t let a mercenary stab me in the leg.”

Carolina scoffed, “I said it was because  _someone_ forgot to account for hidden blades.”  She stared down at the AI.

Wash and Epsilon answered her at the same time, “Excuses.”

**Author's Note:**

> I might turn this into a series, so if you'd want to read my take on how CarWash became friends again, leave a comment or head over to my tumblr and send me an Ask :D
> 
> Not beta read, any mistakes are, of course, mine.
> 
> My Tumblr: http://ashley-vh.tumblr.com/


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